On TV, in newspapers, on social networks... As you have noticed, bedbugs are everywhere!
In recent years, they have taken place on trains, on subway trains and, above all, in houses and apartments. But in recent weeks, the bed bug controversy has resumed and is terrorizing the whole of France.
But be careful! Contrary to the idea being conveyed at the moment, bedbugs have invaded France a long time ago.
They are often thought to appear due to poor hygiene and lack of maintenance. But these tiny bugs can actually infest any home, no matter how clean it is. No one is therefore safe from finding bedbugs between the cushions on their sofa or in the curtains in their living room.
At OIQIA, thanks to our expertise in the field of tourism, we have put in place a strict protocol that allows us to react effectively to bedbugs.
Who are these uninvited people and what are the right actions to adopt in the event of an infestation in your home?
In short-term rental accommodations, bed bugs can arrive at the same time as your travelers... But don't panic: we are exploring the world of bedbugs together to better understand this phenomenon and we give you our best advice to fight against this plague of the year 2023.
Bed bugs are no bigger than sesame seeds. They feed on human and animal blood and are mostly active during the night.
There are a few techniques to prevent the arrival of bedbugs:
• Check sleeping areas and storage areas frequently.
• Wash bedding, curtains, and other textiles in your home regularly at high temperatures.
• Be sure to inspect second-hand furniture and objects before bringing them into your accommodation.
• Seal cracks and crevices that may appear in walls and floors: these are potential hiding places for these little animals!
Faced with these signs, it is important to detect a bedbug infestation early to prevent it from getting worse. Here are the most common signs:
• The first sign, bites: they generally appear in the form of small red pimples grouped together, often accompanied by itching. In summer, they can be mistaken for spider bites or mosquito bites. To confirm their origin, it is possible to seek the advice of a health or pest control professional.
• Presence of insects: adult bed bugs are flat, oval, reddish brown in color. But the “younger” of them, called nymphs, are smaller and lighter.
• Blood stains or faeces: they leave behind blood stains or faeces on the tissue.
As soon as the signs are detected by your traveller or by the concierge working in your accommodation, a specialized company must be involved.
To give you the best advice, we contacted Cindy and Sébastien, from the company Stop Wasps — Stop Nuisants. They operate in the departments of Allier, Cher, Cher, Creuse and Puy-de-Dôme, but also in Tarn-et-Garonne.
Cindy generally advises travelers to put their suitcases in the bathtub upon arrival, while they check the accommodation and their suitcases for pests. Bed bugs cannot access smooth surfaces and this prevents the spread.
It is therefore recommended to have a luggage rack installed at the entrance of the accommodation.
If you do the cleaning yourself or if you use a concierge, it is recommended that you carefully check the fabrics (mattress, sofa, curtains, etc.), but also the wardrobes: bed bugs can lay eggs in gaps of one millimeter!
If there is an infestation, it is recommended to use water-soluble bags (made of cornstarch) to wash the sheets. They dissolve in the washing machine and allow the sheets to be isolated and not to “contaminate” other fabrics.
To prevent an infestation or, in any case, to facilitate the treatment of your accommodation, you can use bed bug traps or mattress covers provided for this purpose. These covers make it easier to treat and protect the mattress.
Of course, the most important point is responsiveness. Our applications, intended for the traveller and the concierges with whom we work, allow us to react very quickly! Immediately, we close the reservations for the accommodation concerned and we find a relocation solution for the traveller. We contact a pest control professional for a report and treatment of the accommodation.
During our interview, Cindy explained it to us: scams have been set up from scratch by travelers or even by pest control companies.
And we are in a good position to tell you about it: we called in Cindy following an alert from a traveller and, upon arrival at the accommodation, she found that there was no infestation and that the traveller was acting in bad faith!
Indeed, travelers have used an infestation to be reimbursed for the price of overnight stays. Also, some unscrupulous specialized companies took advantage of this media wave to “run their business” and intervene in accommodations at the request of the traveller (accomplice), without informing the owner.
As the owner of a short-term rental accommodation, you must be vigilant and choose a trustworthy professional and properly identify the presence of pests.
Indeed, you must use a pest control company yourself and not let the traveller take care of the treatment. The observation by a trusted professional also allows you to be certain that you are not dealing with a rare traveller in bad faith.
At OIQIA, we choose trustworthy professionals to guarantee the excellence of your accommodation: we carefully select the concierges with whom we work, as well as the companies called upon to intervene in the event of a small problem.
As you can imagine, the appearance of bedbugs in your accommodation can lead to bad reviews on OTA platforms such as Airbnb.
In this case, feel free to delete your ad and write a new one on the platform. Why?
The results of searches on platforms depend on the work of an algorithm. On the Airbnb platform, for example, the three elements that weigh the most in the algorithm are the popularity of the accommodation, its price and its quality.
To assess the quality of accommodation, the platform claims to rely, among other things, on comments. In other words, the lower the ratings left by your travelers, the less your ad will show up in searches.
The Airbnb platform even specifies that it can decide to delete an ad that does not meet the cleanliness criteria required in its basic rules. Since the presence of bedbugs is often wrongly associated with a lack of cleanliness, an ad can quickly be removed by the platform if bad comments accumulate.
So don't hesitate to delete an ad and post a new one. Your accommodation will appear more quickly in the searches of future travelers!
At OIQIA, the expertise of our Customer Service makes it possible to optimize your rental ad all year round so that it appears in the first search results of travelers.
As you can see, even if bedbugs have been numerous in recent years, there has been a real media wave on this subject in recent months. But let's stay calm! Thanks to our article, you now know the right actions to adopt to prevent infestation and the right actions to adopt if the presence of bed bugs is observed in your short-term rental.
Luckily, a bit of humor has crept into this dark bed bug case!
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